Ahh… this could get convulated,
Okay, i'm from the uk but i'm living and working in Thailand. My laptop doesn't have bluetooth so I can't connect here at home. I should say this is my girlfriends laptop and ever since i've been here there has been a: this copy of windows isn't genuine message in the right hand corner of the desktop. She bought it legit from a store but TIT(this is Thailand).
Sorry. I digress, already.
Her families home pc broke about 1 month ago so ever since everyone has been using this laptop and her brother is known to view questionable websites, shall we say. Hence the keylogger(which I objected to.. yer honor)… Anyway, I tell you this because the IT guy from her work came to look at the pc and while he was here, he plugged one of his many usb sticks into this laptop and did something which made the: this copy of windows isn't genuine message dissapear.
The short answer is… I don't know exactly. I could find out for you if it's important though.
Actually… you did a very good job of explaining the situation. I suspected that the keylogger had been installed for that type of situation. That is actually what they were designed to do… not steal someone elses information. There is nothing wrong with having a keylogger on your computer… as long as you are the one that put it there. I would say that you probably have some ethical responsibility to advise a person that you give permission to use the computer - that it is there.
But back to the problem at hand…. and here is the rub. I don't think I can do anything for you. It would appear that you (or your girlfriend) got ripped off. Even though it sounds like you purchased what you believed to be a legitimate copy of Windows 7, it's not. Obviously Microsoft has gotten "better" at dealing with pirated copies of their programs than they used to be. The Operating System is "crippling" itself. There is nothing I can do to fix it. The build of the program on that computer was known to have been pirated prior to Windows 7 being available for sell. You cannot "update" it to make it valid. Your only choice it to get a legitimate copy of Windows… and reinstall.
If I install a new copy of windows 7 onto this laptop what is the best way to save all the information already stored here and where would you suggest purchasing it?
I'd also like to thank you as you've already been a massive help and I really appreciate the time you've taken out of your own life to assist me. I use the word assist quite wrongly as you did all the work. This is a great website and forum. I just wish I'd found it before now.
In order to save the data you have… you want to store it as a backup. You only want your data… your programs can be re-installed. You can save the data in various ways. You can burn it to a cd or store it to an external drive. Thumb drives will even work if the amount of data to save will fit on it.
As far as recomendations on where to acquire on legitimate versions of Windows… one of our Admins here has a son whom works in Thialand. I'm trying to get in touch with him for reccomendations.
As far as data to be saved: it's only pictures from google Picasso that are really important. There are lots of pictures on there we can't get back. Burning them to CD is a great idea though, if only i'd thought of that …. I guess that's why you work for…. free???? Baby sitting idiots like me through this kind of thing.
It's not rocket science. Sometimes when under the stress on an untenable situation it's just hard to see the forest because of the trees. Alot of what these forums do is provide another set of eyes to assess the situation.
The information I've recieved about purchasing operating systems in Thialand is actually somewhat shocking. As I understand it, you could purchase programs almost anywhere in little shops or sidewalk kiosks. My understanding is that these "resellers" are almost always providing pirated software. Some studies indicate that 4 out of 5 computers in Thialand are operating on non-legitimate version of windows.
Therefore the best advice I believe I can offer is…
Amazon.com is a legitimate seller that I believe will ship to you in Thialand. Others might be NewEgg or TigerDirect.
Or, seeing as how you are from the UK, purchase the software in the UK and have it shipped to you.
Another piece of advice I'd like to pass along is to install software such as Net Nanny rather than a key logger. The idea is that you set it up to not allow access to "questionable" sites, rather than procure evidence as to what sites were accessed.
I'll look at net nanny, thanks. A program like that doesn't sound as dishonest.
As far as Thailand is concerned, I don't know of any statistics but you know you're not in Kansas anymore when you walk into Bangkok's second largest shopping center and the computer games store is openly selling cracked copies and the DVD store adjacent is doing exactly the same with pirate DVDs.
I am planning to fly back to the UK quite soon for a month or less. If this copy of windows isn't damaging the laptop i'll get a new one then. If there is a danger of damage or viruses running this copy i'll look on amazon straight away. What do you think?
Thanks again for the advice.
mcfirth,
The copy you have has some vulnerabilities because it won't update. I believe it will also throw some annoying errors. I don't believe you to be currently infected… but I guess I'd say that you are not as protected as you would be if you could update.
I'll look at getting a copy from amazon then.. It won't be until around the end of this month before I think about flying, so i'll take your valued opinion and get straight on it after some dinner.
